That sounds like a great idea , msbelle.

and really, for men of a certain age - going into an assisted living facility can be great. My grandfather was very popular at 90. when he died, his girlfriend reassured my mom that they didn't 'do anything' but read the bible together. ( at 93 if he could have done anything - go granddad)

Anyway - my plan , if no one makes a compound in Niles , that is a plan when I get old. unfortunately I'll be working a little longer

I think it's a great idea, msbelle. One of the things I miss about my stretch class is getting out of the house a couple times a week for just me-time.

Yeah, one of the things we are very worried about with my mom's recent stroke and cancer is that we always expected dad to go first. And if she goes first it'll be a huge mess. He would try to claim he's fine, but the house would never be cleaned, it would be piled with his papers, he can't cook...it would be bad. I figure mom would love senior living when she feels it's time--if she feels like she can't drive. Especially if she could bring her dogs.

My parents are also funny because they go to all the retirement homes and assisted living places in town to take the tour...because they get free lunch with it!! Though I do agree that if you were moving in somewhere with a meal plan, how good the food is would be a big thing!

Ugh. I know people are often wrong on the Internet. But I hate when people I like post wrongheaded articles and maybe don't totally agree...but then have friends who are even worse. TRIGGER WARNINGS ABOUT RAPE IN A MOVIE YOU HAVE TO WATCH DUEING CLASS IS NOT CENSORSHIP YOU ASSHAT!

I'm having, it seems, leadership issues. Either I suck or the interns are clueless morons or a bit of both. I keep finding them staring at me like zombies wanting to eat my brains after giving them a task I've seen them carry out successfully before. "Intern 1: go do A, this is how you do it, intern 2, go do B, this is how you do it". Look back to find intern 1 is still staring at me mumbling "so . . . ". I'm trying very hard not to be an ass about it, but that tact usually leaves me speechless, because I'm a giant ass.

So I am asking for advice on how to gently and kindly but not in a pushover way to say "is there something you didn't understand/how were those instructions unclear otherwise why tf are you dawdling now?".

I've noticed it too, meara, how upset some people are getting about the idea of giving trigger warnings for classroon readings. I'm not sure why it's such a problem. I mean, if I am assigning a text with disturbing content, isn't the expectation that we are going to address it, or at least discuss it?

I wish my dad would take advantage of being in assisted living. Mostly he sits in his apartment and watches tv and reads naval history novels (he's very happy with the pile of Hornblower novels I gave him). And calls me late at night to complain about his computer.

Hugs to all with parent troubles. It's so fucking hard.

An actor on "The Shield", Michael Jace has been arrested for murdering his wife. This just happened a few hours ago in LA.

Thank you Daniel for the alert about Silk soy milk. Good grief. It would have been unpleasant but not dire for this household. I can only imagine.

If more people discussed the senior issues before they were there it might help, although it may still be tough to recognize you are there.

A woman in my book group has been awesome this way. She, her husband, and a bunch of their friends pooled together to get in at the pre-construction phase of some condos downtown. They were able to have design input to make everything handicapped accessible, they're close to restaurants and shopping, and they're near a bus hub for when driving becomes fraught. She's thinking they'll be good until they need full-time nursing home care.

Mom talked a good game and checked places out. But she kept saying she wasn't that old until cancer and mobility issues pretty much trapped her in the house. After she passed, Dad moved into a senior apartment complex. He stayed pretty active in his church and had friends who checked in on him. And, for the last year or so he had me there nearly every weekend. It's a good thing I don't have kids, because juggling both would have been fraught.

If I were planning to stay around here, I'd try doing what my book group friend did in about 15 years. (Getting everything planned and built took ~3 years.)